Blue Blogger: Sticky Toffees

Rob Pollard from MCFC fan site Typical City looks ahead to tomorrow's Goodison showdown; a fixture that City fans least look forward to!

"Playing Everton is a fixture most City fans dread these days. We’ve only won 4 of our last 17 matches against them, including Roberto Mancini’s first defeat as City manager back in 2010.

Last season, just to make things even more difficult to take, it was ex-United man Darron Gibson who scored the winning goal in a 1-0 defeat. We’ve lost 5 of the last 7 Premier League matches against them, including our last 3 visits to Goodison Park. Trying to figure out why Everton cause us so many problems leaves most City fans scratching their heads.

The relationship between Moyes and Mancini has also had its difficulties. The touchline spat towards the end of our 2-1 home defeat in 2010 never seems to have been forgotten, and there has been little goodwill between the two since. Mancini is a winner, and no manager in England has inflicted more defeats on him than Moyes. It all adds to the drama of this weekend’s game.

It’s possible that Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero could be back from injury. They’re two of our most important players and we could do with them if we’re going to get anything from the game. Jack Rodwell misses out against his former club after getting injured at Villa. He was just starting to impress when another hamstring injury derailed his already stop-start season.

Despite how much of a bogey side Everton have become, and how disappointing so many of the recent matches against them have been, I still enjoy watching them play. The side that Moyes has put together on a limited budget is impressive, and in Jagielka, Baines, Pienaar and Fellaini they have some of the finest players in the league. However, we must start to do better against them, starting on Saturday at 12.45. I don’t think our fans can take many more disappointments on the Blue half of Merseyside."